It Stops Today
by Bandearg Rois
Summary: Pavel Chekov was always good at running; he won a marathon at age 16 after all. But why did he start? And will he be able to run far enough?


Disclaimer:

A/N: I was going through my iPod and found a song by Colbie Caillat. IT's the title of this story and for some reason it made me think of Chekov… so this is what came of it. Sulu/Chekov and very slight Kirk/Spock… It's A/U… Kirk doesn't get in a fight over Uhura, but he does get in a fight in the bar. Also, I've taken liberties with Pavel's name. An alternate version of the name is Pasha, which I thought was a nickname until I looked it up. I'm leaving it as he changed his name to Pavel on official records and such but isn't comfortable with its use.

A/N2: any dialogue while he is in Russia is in Russian unless otherwise specified.

Pairing: H/P, K/S

Summary: Chekov is a runner; a good one, seeing as how he won a marathon at 16. But why does he run?

It started when he was 12. He was at university in Moscow, thinking about petitioning to graduate early, because he only had two more classes and he could take them from home. He was walking back to the small apartment his grandmother had gotten for him that was just off campus. Nothing was really different than any other night, but there was something in the air that made him just walk that little bit faster, a chill that had nothing to do with Russian Spring.

And then he heard it: footsteps, quick, coming closer, laughter on the breeze. Normally he wouldn't have cared, but for some reason he started to move even faster, breaking into a run as the other set of steps also sped up. He was almost to his building when he was grabbed from behind and jerked into an alley. He looked up to see an upperclassman, Vadim Dmitriovich Popov, who had argued with him in one of their classes. Popov was mad that he had won the debate, and he understood that, really he did, but why was he now in an alley with the man?

"Vadik, what's wrong?" he asked, sounding braver than he felt. He was alone, and he was only 12.

"You made me look like an idiot, today, Pasha," Vadim growled, backing him into the wall.

"I didn't mean to! I was right! I'm sorry, but the teacher agreed!" This was the other reason he wanted to go home. Or at least to Babushka's. Two many of his classmates resented him for being young and smarter than them. He cried out when the fist connected with his side.

"You. Made. Me. Look. Stupid." Each word was accompanied by a blow, and then the words came faster and he couldn't understand them because his brain was fogged by pain. He was curled on the ground now, shielding his head and trying to protect himself from the booted feet that were connecting solidly with his body.

Finally it all stopped and when he could look up, Vadim was gone and he was alone. He tried to get up but his ribs and one of his legs protested. Loudly. He decided to get himself sitting up and managed to do it after quite a few tries.

It was a few hours before one of his neighbors came back from a party and found him trying to crawl to the front door.

"Pashenka!" The girl was Elena, she lived across the hall. He felt himself lifted, painfully, and couldn't stop the tears as he tried to collapse in on himself. "Be careful with him, Piotr!" He was placed in a backseat and barely registered soft hands running through his hair. "Pashenka… Pasha?"

"Yes?" he whispered, throat sore.

"What happened?"

"Popov… he…" a stab of pain had him doubling over and he couldn't breathe.

"We'll get him, Pasha, don't you worry."

He was in the hospital for 3 days; one of the broken ribs had nearly punctured one of his lungs. The paperwork for his early graduation was processed quickly and he found himself back in his grandmother's house. As soon as he was well he began to run in the mornings, pushing himself to be faster and run longer. It was soothing, running, and by the time he finished those last two classes, he began to run for most of a morning, for hours and hours until he collapsed in front of his house, exhausted but content.

It helped him whenever he got angry; he would run and sweat the pain out. By the time he finished his thesis and was thinking about going back to school, no one could compete with him in Belaya Kalitva. He was 14. One day he had taken a break from running and gone into the town proper to do some shopping for Babushka. He was about to go into the store when he caught sight of Vadim Popov out of the corner of his eye. He turned to make sure and was struck by the anger in the young man. As Vadim came closer, he made a split-second decision. He ran.

He quickly outran his older chaser and looped around outside the town to go to the store, since he had led the man out into the fields; Vadim wouldn't be back for awhile. He got all of his shopping done and was on his way out when he was tackled to the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. He kicked out instinctively, legs toned from constant running connecting with his attacker. Vadim fell away with a grunt and he grabbed his bags and took off, trying to keep the tears from his face.

He told his grandmother and Vadim was arrested almost immediately; when he had left the university two years before, the older man had lost his scholarship and had been kicked out of the school, destroying his career. Pasha couldn't figure out why Vadim was so fixated on him. He called Elena, the first time he had spoken to her in months.

"He was jealous, Pasha. He's crazy. Forget about him, Pashenka."

"I can't. He attacked me outside the store earlier today." Elena was livid but he calmed her down. "It's okay, I have been running and at first he couldn't catch me… and then I kicked him." They shared a laugh and she made him promise to keep her posted.

That attack was the lynchpin for his joining Starfleet. They had contacted him when he was still in college, and only 11, to see if he wanted to join when he was 15. He had not turned them down, but hadn't really thought about it either. He managed to get in at 14, after his Babushka signed the paperwork to make him an emancipated minor.

He found himself at Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, California. He knew only the bare minimum of English, but they set him up with tutoring and soon he could speak passably enough to do well in his classes. He had a hard time transitioning to the different learning system, but he worked hard, and didn't come near to failing his classes.

He didn't have any friends, but he was so busy acclimating to California that he didn't really notice. By the time he turned 15, he was settled in, and was nearly consistently at the top of his classes. He knew there was some resentment, but tried to let it slide off of his back. He kept up with his running, and even participated in a marathon where he came in 3rd. He was happy with his life.

He was set to graduate a few months before turning 18, and had already been out to see the ship everyone wanted to be on. The _U. S. S. Enterprise_ was going to be the newest and best flagship of the fleet, and it would be finished right as he graduated. He was excited when he went to see it; he had just had his birthday and was nearly giddy that Captain Pike had allowed him to join him on the recruiting trip to see the shipyard.

When he went to go see it, the navigation console was a skeleton but he was allowed to look at the inner-workings, as they were nearly completely finished with the wiring. He set himself to memorize it and even fixed a mistake one of the workers had made, which would have connected the console with the completed environmental control station on the other side of the bridge, making it more likely to create chocolate flavored steak than course-plotting. He pointed it out once he was done and the technician stared at him.

He didn't like the staring and quickly left with an apology, running away from the shipyard and out into a nearby field. Running was soothing, and he didn't realize that he had run so far until he found himself outside of a bar. There were a lot of cadets hanging around outside, so he blended his way to the ba to ask for some water.

"Hey, it's the whiz-kid!" one of the cadets yelled, and he flinched but ignored the older man, thanking the tender for the water and trying to make his way to a corner. "Hey… you deaf, genius? I'm talking to you!"

"I am wery sorry zat you zink I care," he said, instantly regretting the barb and heading instead for the door, swigging the water down quickly. It looked like he would need to run again, and soon.

"Get back here, punk, I'm not done with you!" He moved faster. He now recognized the cadet; he was heading for Security and had cornered him before to beat the shit out of him.

"Well, I seem to be finished with you!" he called back, pushing past people to make it to the door. He was grabbed by the collar before he could make it and recognized Matthews' friend Connely.

"I don't think you are, kid."

"Please, just let me go, I will not say anyzing just please let me go!" He lifted his feet from the floor and aimed for the knee of the man holding him. He was let go after contact, landing beautifully and sprinting for the now cleared doorway. Then Matthews was there and he ran into a fist. He fell to the floor, dazed, vaguely hearing a female yelling at Matthews.

"I'm not done with you. You made me look bad last semester, and I don't hold with that." He was picked up by Connely, who made sure his legs were immobilized.

"I am sorry if I did better zan you on a test, but zat does not mean you need to beat me up!" he cried out, struggling again. He was strong for his size, but nowhere near the sheer bulk of Connely.

"I think you need to let the kid go. From what I've seen he didn't do anything to you," a strong voice came from the side. He looked to see a townie boy with a leather jacket glaring at the two men, blue eyes blazing.

"I think you need to back off, pal before I kick your ass, too," Matthews threatened, stepping closer to the other man.

"I think you guys need to stop!" The girl who had yelled before said, trying to put herself into it. The townie just shook his head.

"Nah, the guy's too chickenshit to fight someone that can fight back." The words were accompanied by a hard smile and Pavel knew exactly what would happen. The man would get killed. He redoubled his efforts, thanking everything that he had started self-defense classes. He tried to slam his head into Connely's nose and met the man's chin, which hurt a lot, but got him to let go. He jumped away, not wanting to leave his rescuer alone.

But the punches were already flying and three more cadets had joined in. He wanted to help but the girl held him back, pulling him back toward the bar. "We can't do anything; let's just get out of the way." He nodded, rubbing the back of his head, which was starting to hurt even worse and throb with his heartbeat.

The fight was stopped abruptly when Captain Pike whistled, loudly. It hurt Pavel's head even more and he closed his eyes, trying to offset the double-vision.

"Aiya…" he groaned as the girl led him toward the door. Pike stopped them though, and told the girl to go on.

"Chekov, what in the hell are you doing here? We've been searching for you since you ran away from the shipyard."

"Sorry… Felt like running… Aiya. Got zirsty, Keptain… My head hurts." When he woke up he was laying on a bench in the bar while Pike talked to the townie. His head didn't hurt at all anymore and he sat up quickly, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Your father was Captain of a starship for 12 minutes and saved 800 lives. I dare you to do better," Pike said as he stood. "Shuttle for new recruits leaves from Riverside Shipyard at 0800." He then motioned for Pasha to follow him out.

"Keptain, what happened?" he asked as they walked toward the older man's car.

"You passed out. I got you awake and figured out you didn't have a concussion but then you fell asleep again. Mind telling me what started all of that?"

"No, Keptain. It was a misunderstanding, is all."

"A misunderstanding has two cadets attacking you in a packed bar for no reason? I don't buy it. Talk."

"Okay, it was like zis. I went to ze bar to get a bottle of water and as I was leaving Matthews called to me. Then when I began to run from him, Connely grabbed me."

"Connely has a strained knee and a huge bruise on his chin. Did you do that?"

"Aye, Keptain. He would not let me go."

"Very well. This won't go on your record. Will you have any classes with those two?"

"No. It was only ze first year classes zat we shared." He leaned his head back against the seat, hissing slightly as the bump was pushed. "I will not let it happen again."

"It won't happen again, Chekov. I'm taking you back to the hotel and you are going to sleep." He trudged up to his room that he unfortunately shared with one of the new recruits. The man was awake when he came in, reading a book.

"Hi, I'm Hikaru Sulu."

"Pavel Andreivich Chekov." He had only been using Pavel for a year, so it was weird to introduce himself without using Pasha. He threw himself onto his bed with a sigh, flinching and groaning as he again forgot his head injury.

"You okay?" He looked over to find the man looking at him with concern. He was confused, but answered anyway.

"Had a disagreement at ze bar earlier… I won my fight zough." At Hikaru's raised eyebrow he elaborated. "I was getting a bottle of water before running back here and a couple of the cadets… zey… I do not know ze word."

"Jumped you?"

"Da, jumped me. I got away though."

"Good for you. What are you going to be studying?"

"Oh I hawe already been to ze Academy for a year. I am learning Nawigations."

"Nawigations?"

"Shut up. Is speech problem. I cannot pronounce the words right."

"You mess up your v's?"

"Aye. If you do not mind, I would like to go to sleep, but it was nice meeting you." He pulled his outer uniform off until he was in the black t-shirt and his boxers before crawling under the covers. The other man nodded and moved to turn the light off. "Please, do not… I do not like to sleep wizout lights. But I can, if it will bother you!" he added, horrified at himself for being so forward.

"Okay, I was wanting to read a little more anyway. Night, Pavel."

The next year was much better than the last for him. His old roommate had graduated and he was a little worried about who his new roommate would be. It turned out to be Hikaru Sulu, the man he had shared the room with in Iowa. The two got on well, even though he became aggravated when Sulu's plants began to take over the room, and he was no longer teased.

About two months into the new semester, Sulu woke up as he was leaving the room for his morning run. He had accidentally dropped his keys on the way to the door and was trying to search for them.

"What's goin' on? What're you doin' up so early, Pasha?" He stood and looked at the Asian.

"Running. I am training for marazon."

"Marathon? But you're only 15!"

"Exactly! I hawe been running since I was twelwe, and I almost won ze last one. I came in 3rd. I will be back before breakfast, I promise. I always am." He smiled and left the room, starting on his run through campus. By the time he got back he had maybe twenty minutes to shower and get to class. Breakfast would have to wait.

When he came out of the shower, a bagel and a bowl of fruit were sitting on his desk, along with a bottle of water. There was a note.

_Broke your promise, Pasha, but I couldn't let you starve._

'_Karu_

He grinned and got dressed quickly, putting the fruit on the bagel with the cream cheese and eating it on his way out to his first class.

After that, if he was running late, there would always be some kind of breakfast sitting on his desk, which he thought was awesome, but whenever he brought it up Hikaru changed the subject, so he let it go and enjoyed his good fortune in getting the Asian as a roommate.

He was getting better at self-defense, especially after Hikaru started teaching him to fence. He was amused that Hikaru called it 'fencing' when it was mixed martial arts that happened to use a sword. Hikaru scowled whenever he called it anything else, though, so he acceded and only laughed when he knew the Asian couldn't hear him.

His 17th birthday was pretty awesome, and Hikaru made sure that he got a new pair of shoes and a new practice sword. He also managed to get some alcohol, which he was happy to share. Pasha surprised him by drinking him under the table, which he continued to laugh at, openly and loudly, months later.

Graduation was approaching quickly, and he was getting more and more depressed. It didn't look like he would get onto the Enterprise after all, and he was sad that Hikaru still had another semester of classes before he would graduate. He kept it from his friend though, by getting up earlier and running longer to keep the fog at bay. He knew Hikaru was suspicious but he kept running away.

The day before his graduation had come, and he'd gotten amazing news. He was to be part of the skeleton crew that would be putting the Enterprise through her paces before her first full voyage. Hikaru sounded just as excited for him when he told him, but also a little wistful.

"What is wrong, Hikaru?" he asked as he packed what little belongings he owned.

"I don't know… I don't want another roommate… I got used to waking up alone and getting you breakfast."

"You are silly, Hikaru. You probably will not get another roommate, since you only hawe one more semester."

"Meh… Hey, you wanna go get something to eat?" Pasha looked up from his bag and smiled. He and Hikaru usually tried to get off campus at least once a month to get away from classes, which at first had irked him because it meant he had less study time, but Hikaru had insisted and then it became habit.

"Da, I'd love to." He pretended to completely miss the blush on the Asian's face as they left the room in civilians to go to the Russian restaurant just outside the campus. He was almost 18, and though he had never really had friends, he did people watch a great deal, and so he could recognize embarrassment to some extent. Though he had no idea why Hikaru was blushing, it wasn't polite to point it out.

The next day he stood at outside the shuttle with Hikaru, saying goodbye. "Zank you, Kasha, for being my friend," he murmured, surprising even himself by hugging the older man. He didn't like physical contact, but it just seemed right in this situation. He was gratified when Hikaru hugged him back.

"My pleasure, Pasha. You're going to comm me on your birthday, right?" Pasha was turning 18 4 months into his first mission.

"Da, of course, and on yours, Kasha. Don't do anyzing I wouldn't do, da? Zat is ze saying?"

"Yeah, you got it right. Don't let them give you any shit, you hear me? You can protect yourself now and I don't want to hear that you got hurt because you didn't fight back, yeah?"

"I promise. I will see you around, Kasha." He pulled away from the hug and then stopped. "Kasha, zere is Russian custom when saying farewell, but I do not know if you will let me."

"What is it?" Before he lost his nerve, he leaned up and kissed Hikaru on both cheeks. He jumped back immediately, blushing hotly. It was the first time he had used the expression on someone who was not family, and he had probably just screwed everything up and-

His thoughts were interrupted when Hikaru returned the kisses, and then kissed him on the mouth. The kiss was sweet, and he found himself responding before he could think. When they pulled away, Hikaru coughed and looked down.

"Sorry, Pasha, I've just been wanting to do that for awhile and I figured that the next time I see you you'll be legal and-"

"Kasha, it's all right. I liked it, and I only wish you had said something sooner, and not waited until I am leawing."

"Sorry, I just… couldn't let you go without doing it."

"Ya Lyublyu, Kasha. I promise to call you, aye?"

"Yeah. I'll see you around." Hikaru leaned forward and this time Pasha was ready, dropping his bag to run his fingers through Hikaru's hair as they kissed again, before letting him go and turning to go into the shuttle. He sat by a window and waved to Hikaru, who looked like he was close to tears.

He was surprised when he was summoned to the bridge because of an emergency, that the cadets would all be going to assist Vulcan in a natural disaster. He looked for McKenna as he rushed up the maintenance ladders, forgoing the turbolift to get there faster. On the bridge he sees he is the first to arrive and quickly powers up his station, taking a moment to run a hand over the console, remembering when he had fixed it years before, before he even knew he would be working there.

"Pasha?" He spun at the familiar voice and grinned as Hikaru came towards him, marking the second person on the bridge. "Pasha!"

"Kasha!" he replied, his grin splitting his face. "Where is McKenna?"

"'Lungworm' if anyone asks. He's hungover and couldn't pilot apparently… according to his girlfriend who commed me."

"I am sorry I couldn't be at your commencement, Kasha. I watched ze holo of it zough." He wanted nothing more than to kiss the man in front of him but sighed as someone else entered the bridge, another of the actual crew members. Hikaru sat down at the pilot console, running his fingers over the controls softly.

"It's okay. I was thrilled when I got the news that I was assigned to the helm… It's almost unheard of…"

"You are backup helm, Kasha, do not let your head get too big," Pasha teased, beginning to actively look through his controls, making sure that everything he needed was up. He heard Hikaru snort and then laugh. He looked to see Hikaru looking at his console. He looked down and smiled himself. Pasha could not have just one display up at a time; his screen looked like a jigsaw puzzle, with small feeds for auxillary systems and the large one in the center scanning the space around them.

"Still just as messy, Pasha," Hikaru teased in return, setting up his own feeds. By the time the bridge filled, they were working quietly, every once in awhile, 'shooting' a feed across the middle console to the other one, if they accidentally brought up the wrong feed. By the time the Captain entered the bridge, Pasha's console looked less like a jigsaw and more like an impressionist painting.

After he got to watch Kasha make a fool of himself (he was going to remind the Asian for _years_ about the 'parking brake' comment), they were out into space and he was called on to make the ship-wide broadcast. It was annoying, and he knew Pike did it to him on purpose; his authorization code had 2 Vs in it and the broadcast itself was full of words like Vulcan and activity. He could feel Hikaru shaking next to him, trying not to laugh. He scowled at Hikaru once the broadcast was over, but didn't dare say anything. Instead he shot a message across the console at him.

'Laugh and die, Kasha.'

He didn't get a reply because there were suddenly 3 more people on the bridge, one of them in relaxed uniform with no tunic. He listened intently to the discussion between the captain, first officer and the intruders, losing part of it when they moved toward the communications station, but seeing the woman sitting down where Hardy had just been, he realized that something was really wrong.

He spun back to his console and threw the red alert up, just before Hikaru reported dropping from warp. They dropped into a war-zone, Hikaru grimacing with the strain of the quick evasive maneuvers. He knew instinctively what Hikaru needed, taking the plot-course shot at him and working in sync with his friend to keep them from crashing into the disk of the Farragut. He doubted the captain knew they were _both_ piloting at the time, and that was a good thing.

They ended up being hailed by the ship that did the destroying, culminating in Pike leaving him the con until Commander Spock returned. Hikaru went with them as they needed officers with 'advanced hand-to-hand training. Pasha frantically dropped and picked up feeds, making sure that he could keep Hikaru's vitals on the screen. He didn't know exactly what was happening, but the fact that Spock came back and ordered the vitals put up on a corner of the screen worried him. He almost lost it when Hikaru's vitals jumped harshly before stabilizing (he had almost been pulled into the drill, was what he found out later). Olson had already died and he couldn't think about what would happen if Hikaru died as well.

Kirk reported something being dropped into the hole left by the drill and he pulled up the scans of Vulcan he had running. After a few quick seconds of calculations he turned to Commander Spock and told him what was happening. A singularity was forming at the heart of the planet, and growing every second. The Acting Captain left him the con and left the bridge, saying something about his parents.

Pasha returned to monitoring the away team, and when the woman in the transporter room said she couldn't lock on because they were falling, he jumped up, the correct calculations already springing into his mind based on the scans and he hurriedly passed the con and sprinted to the transporter room, pushing people out of the way and yelling something (he was told later that he was repeating 'Move!' and 'I can do zat!') as he ran. As soon as he got there he took over manual control and input the calculations for gravitational pull and began working t get the lock. He was annoyed by Kirk screaming at him but he finally got the lock, transporting them less than four feet above the ground. The transport slowed their descent, but not enough; he winced in sympathy when the pad they landed on – at least he _hoped_ it was the pad – broke

He watched Hikaru get up and wanted to hold him, but his job came first. Spock came in and beamed down to the surface, going to rescue the elders, and he oversaw the replacing of the broken bubble. Hikaru stood behind him, close enough that he felt the heat on his back, which felt good. He was happy even when getting ready to beam up the council members – until one of the signals dropped as they were energizing. He 'grabbed' frantically for the signal but when the transport completed, the only human signal he had had did not resolve into Spock's mother. He looked up at the Captain's face, and felt instantly more guilty; he had just killed this man's mother. He had just killed an innocent person.

He bolted from the room, ignoring Hikaru's calls, skidding into the door of his quarters before frantically opening the door, locking it from the inside. He slumped on his bed after grabbing the only thing he had left of Russia, the Star of David that his grandmother had given him. He ran shaking fingers over the edges and traced the shape, staring into space. If only he had been faster, if only the computer had been faster, he would not have committed murder. He continued to stare out until his chime sounded incessantly and there was pounding on the door.

"PASHA LET ME IN!" Hikaru was out there. He opened the door and collapsed into the Asian's arms as soon as the door closed, sobs wracking his body. "Sh… Pashenka, it's okay…" Pasha just shook his head, crying harder. After a few moments that could have been hours, Hikaru pushed him away to arms' length.

"Kasha, I didn't, I didn't mean to!" he said desperately.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Pasha," Hikaru said firmly. "You did all you could. You have to realize that this is not simulation – life doesn't work out right all of the time."

"But Kasha –"

"No buts. Now dry your eyes, babe, we have to go back to work. I promise we'll both decompress after this, but I need you with me, Pasha, can you do that?" He nodded, drying his tears on his sleeve and going toward his tiny bathroom to wash his face. When he returned, Hikaru had already changed back into his uniform; he must have brought a set with him when he came.

They went back to the bridge and took over controls (or in Pasha's case, the con) minutes before Spock returned to the bridge briefly. What followed then involved arguments and marooning before he was told to lay a course to the Laurentian system. Personally he agreed with Kirk, but orders were orders. A few hours later, he was piggy-backing the security feeds for something to do when he noticed unauthorized access in engineering.

Kirk returned with a Scottish officer who was soaking wet and asking for a towel. He had to dive out of the way when Spock suddenly went off on Kirk, beating the shit out of him. They damaged his console – good thing it wasn't a hard repair and could be done quickly. Then Kirk was dying and Spock wasn't letting go and he was so scared and then Spock left the bridge. Kirk took command at that moment and he had to hack the middle console to do his work on until Engineering sent someone up to fix it. Then Kirk was asking for ideas of how to ambush the Narada.

He had an idea and commandeered a work screen to work out his calculations and course selection. Once he had them complete, he tried to tell the Captain about them, and was nearly shot down by the CMO. Before he or Hikaru could open their mouths – he could see murder in his friend's eyes – Spock returned to the bridge and confirmed his calculations.

They were on their way to Saturn moments later, Hikaru discreetly pushing part of the workload his way. It felt as if they'd been partners on this bridge forever as he anticipated Hikaru's needs and still kept his own workload from overwhelming him. When they came to a stop he already had the controls for the impulse up and waited for Hikaru's command to execute. Sulu had the con because he was the one that had to make the minute corrections to their course and had to be able to give the orders to the rest of the bridge. Pasha pulled up the vitals on Spock and Kirk, putting them up on the main screen without needing to be asked.

Moments later he watched through his sensors as the drill was lowered to Earth – right next to the Academy, and the vitals dropped out. He and Hikaru exchanged worried looks as they waited for the outcome. If this didn't work, they had no command. He was pulling up the warp engine controls even as he saw the Narada follow a smaller craft into warp, simultaneously putting the vitals back on the main screen.

He already had the weapons armed before they dropped out, working in tandem with Hikaru to destroy the missiles targeting the small craft, which had Spock on it. He watched helplessly as the craft put itself into a collision course, and willed Kirk to hurry up. Suddenly he registered the transport beam just before the collision occurred, breathing a sigh of relief as they reappeared on the Enterprise. He already had all of the information he would need ready before the captain returned to the bridge, and hailed the other ship efficiently when Uhura froze.

He looked at Kirk like he was crazy when the captain offered assistance to Nero, but smiled a little at the reaction of Spock before arming phasers and torpedoes once again in anticipation of Kirk's command to take the ship out.

Then there was another problem. He knew they were at maximum warp, but they weren't moving… they were actually going backwards. He looked over at Hikaru, fear in his eyes, only to see the same expression on the Asian's face. He grinned foolishly when they got out of the well, only because he had been so sure that his life was going to end before he even had sex or drank legally. Hikaru grinned at him and they all had a few moments of 'Holy shit, we're alive' before reality set in.

The warp core was completely gone, and the impulse engines were damaged. They would have to limp back to Earth, at a snails pace. He offered his services to Engineering, where he sat with Mr. Scott for a few minutes, determining what was needed immediately. He then set to work crawling through the engine and repairing as much as he could. He hadn't even realized what time it was until Scotty informed him, and he scrambled out of his hole and ran to the bridge, arriving just at shift change. He sat at his controls quietly for a couple of hours before Kirk ordered him to get some sleep. He glared half-heartedly at Hikaru (the little tattle-tale) before heading for his quarters. Once there, he found a replicated bagel and fruit in a small stasis box on his desk.

He ate and slept, returning to the bridge for a short shift before letting himself loose on the engine again. This time Hikaru dragged him out, forcing him into the older man's quarters.

"Pasha…" They were suddenly all over each other, hugging and kissing and just holding onto each other. "I thought I'd lost you, baby," Hikaru kept muttering, pulling him tighter.

"I did, too, Kasha. Ya lyublyu, Kasha." They clung to each other, too shaken up to do anything else.

Three hours later they were laying in Hikaru's bed, with Pavel resting his head on Hikaru's heartbeat, sighing in contentment. They hadn't had sex, but they would… Just not now… and he was fine with that.

"You know, Pasha…" Hikaru murmured, pulling him out of his light doze. "You have said that thing twice to me now. I wanted to say something as well. Ya lyublyu. I love you."

"Kasha…" Hikaru shushed him with a kiss, pulling his head back down to rest on his chest. They both fell asleep that way.

The next few days continued in much the same way, with Hikaru dragging Pasha out of Engineering to eat and then retiring to one or the other's quarters to sleep.

When they finally got back to the Academy, both of them went to the memorial service in their cadet reds, as neither had had time to requisition new dress uniforms. It was a sad day for everyone, because they all knew at least one person on the other ships. Pasha's study partner Naya had been on the Farragut, and he cried silently when they read her name. Hikaru was affected a little more because he was more outgoing, and so he tried to be strong.

That night they made love for the first time, slow, and fumbling, each trying in some way to be closer to the other, realizing how close they had come to losing each other so many times in the last week. They had to wait for the rest of the crew to graduate before they could set off on their mission, and both were ecstatic when they realized that they were both assigned to the main bridge crew, though they had no idea who was making the decisions; Pike was still off active duty and Spock had disappeared.

They were surprised when they went to commencement to be awarded with commendations and Pasha got a promotion to Lieutenant for his part in the incident. They were even more surprised when Kirk was called down, and given command of the Enterprise. They realized that he was the one that had approved their positions and were even more pleased.

Six months into their first mission they made a mistake. In the mess Pasha had told a joke to Hikaru, who was sitting across from him, and the Asian responded by grabbing his hand while laughing and calling him Pasha. They both looked around to see half of the mess staring at them, and left immediately, waiting for the inevitable dressing down by the captain. Even in such enlightened times, same-sex couples were not always treated very well. They retreated to the Ten-Forward, both ordering vodka and nursing their glasses until Kirk sat down at the table with them.

"How are you guys doing?" The normalcy of the question startled Pasha. "I know that had to have been weird, being stared at like that."

"We… are okay, Keptain."

"It's Jim, none of us are in a formal setting. I've known about your relationship since the Narada incident; no helm team could have worked that well together without prior knowledge of each other. I honestly don't care, and anyone that does can shove it. You guys make a great team and I'm not going to break that up. I'm not saying go off willy-nilly kissing in public or whatnot, but I don't care as long as it's sort of discreet."

"Thanks, Jim," Hikaru finally answers, looking shell-shocked. "But the kissing in public part? Did that awhile ago." Pasha blushed, remembering the kisses outside the transport shuttle.

"I didn't see it, so I don't care. Either of you need any help you let me know, okay guys?"

"Got it, Jim. Have a nice ewening with Commander Spock," Pasha said innocently, smirking inwardly at the look on Jim's face. "You are playing chess in the rec room this ewening yes?"

"You're not innocent at all, Chekov!" the captain crowed, and motioned Scotty over. "Pay up, Scotty my dear man."

"Ach, Cap'n I cannae believe you got him to say something not innocent!" the Scot complained, handing over a chit to the grinning blonde.

"You were betting on me?" Pasha said slowly. "Damn I know I should hawe recorded ze drinking contest ze other night!"

"Drinking contest?"

"Aye, I get with the other nawigators once a week to hawe contest. You could hawe won a long time ago, Jim."

A/N: So that's the first part… I'm not sure where it's going to end but there will be at least one more part, hopefully just as long. This was 14 pages in Word. And it got way from me somewhere along the way… don't worry, Russia will come back to haunt him.

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